Where has the time gone? We have reached the end of the school year and what a wonderful year it has been. Our Dragonflies have progressed in so many ways and we are really proud of them.

During choosing time we enjoy seeking out our favourite activities and experiences. It’s lovely to see the children exploring new toys and resources and showing longer periods of engagement and enjoyment.

We revisited some of our favourite Attention Autism activities this week. We definitely like splat activities whether that be foam or flour. “Singing in the rain” is another favourite. It’s lovely to watch the children’s reactions as the water pours down on their umbrella. A favourite activity of the adults is “Mirror, Mirror on the wall” because the children all explore their reflection in different ways! One of our Dragonflies really enjoyed giving his reflection a big kiss!

It’s been hot, hot, hot this week and on Thursday we really enjoyed a visit from the ice cream man. We all sat in the sun and enjoyed our ice cold treat! We were very impressed by how some of our Dragonflies held their spoon to scoop and eat their ice cream. Eating ice creams in the sun is what summer is all about.

We enjoyed our final music lesson with Bev. We all made choices between high and low sounds and fast and slow rhythms.

On Friday we had a little party to celebrate the end of our brilliant year. The children put their turn taking skills to the test when we played pass the parcel. Everyone sat really well and had a good try at tearing off the paper when the music stopped. We then enjoyed the treats hidden between the layers.

We enjoyed having a dance at our sensory disco.

Well done Dragonflies for all your hard work and determination this year. There have been lots of smiles, a few tears, lots of cuddles and plenty of WOW moments. Every day has been full of fun. No two days have ever been the same and we all have so many memories of our special year together. We hope you have a wonderful summer. Let’s hope the sun shines for us all. Thankyou to our families for all your continued support. It has been a pleasure to be part of your little ones learning journeys and to watch them grow and change.

Lots of love,

Julia, Gemma, Jo, Megan and Cath 😊😊

On Wednesday we welcomed our families into school for the Oakwood Family Festival. Our Dragonflies really enjoyed sharing some special time with their families. We began with a lunchtime picnic with our Butterfly friends and their families. After that we made the long walk to the big field for some festival fun. All of the children adapted so well to the changes in routine and were happy to investigate lots of new experiences including meeting The Gruffalo! A huge thankyou to everyone who came into school and helped to make it such a happy day.

Back in the classroom we have continued to enjoy lots of different stage three Attention Autism activities.

We fill our busy timetable with lots of sensory breaks to give our children time and space to calm and regulate themselves and to enjoy some relaxation and me time. This may involve exploring a favourite material, a toy, a piece of music, a taste or a movement.

All of our Dragonflies have different sensory needs but a shared favourite is bubbles!

One of our final ‘Growing and Changing’ PSED activities is to make a cress caterpillar. We watched Julia carefully as she demonstrated how to put the cotton wool balls into the egg box, sprinkle on the cress seeds and spray them with a spray bottle. We all had a favourite part of the activity. Some of us enjoyed spraying the water, others liked the softness of the cotton wool and sprinkling the cress seeds. Let’s hope our cress has started to sprout by Monday morning.

We cannot believe that next week will be our last one of this academic year. Where does the time go? Have a lovely weekend Dragonflies and families. Enjoy the England game if you are watching ⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤞! See you on Monday,

Julia, Jo, Cath, Gemma and Megan

It has been another lovely week in Dragonflies class.

We all continue to enjoy engaging with Attention Autism and joining in with lots of stage three activities. This week our buckets have been based around planting and growing, 2D and 3D shapes and cold and frosty icebergs.

Our problem solving skills are improving week by week. We are making excellent progress with colour sorting, inset jigsaws, making numerical amounts in different ways and working out how to use cause and effect toys.

We visited forest school and went on an exploration through the forest to find lots of different shaped trees. Lots of us also enjoyed finding a favourite stick to explore with.

In music we are continuing to learn all about high and low sounds and actions. We used the parachute to get the feeling of ‘up high’ and ‘down low’. We then made music with a low and a high chime bar. We all took a turn to make a choice between the high note or the low note.

In our art lessons we painted our salt dough shapes with clear glue and then sprinkled glitter onto them. Some of us looked like a disco ball after this sensory activity!

In cooking we took part in one of our favourite activities – making squash. We are all improving our ability to use a jug and a bottle to pour accurately. We like this activity because we know we will be able to drink what we have made. Lots of the children were able to grip and drink from a cup which is very independent and great to see.

The children have all enjoyed watering their sunflower plant. We really hope they bloom throughout the summer.

We are looking forward to the Oakwood Family Festival taking place on the big field next Wednesday. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Please send back the form if you haven’t done so to let us know if you will be there.

Today the children have bought home their end of year reports. We hope you enjoy reading about the wonderful year the children have had with us in Dragonflies class.

Enjoy the weekend and we will see you all next week,

Julia, Gemma, Megan, Cath and Jo

It’s been hot, hot, hot at school this week! The children have coped very well in the heat and we’ve found lots of ways to cool ourselves down with water play and ice lollies.

We had a wonderful visit to forest school where we enjoyed finding some shady patches under the trees.

We all love bucket time, especially stage three where we all get to have a special turn. The children are all improving their focus and concentration during these activities. They are enjoying watching their friends take part which is lovely to see.

Sandcastle smash!

In our art lesson we made our own England flags and sang and signed a football song. Let’s hope we win our match against Slovakia on Sunday.

We have been making amazing progress in our communication sessions. We are trying hard to make choices and to use ALD boards when we want more of a favourite activity. We all expressed our needs in different ways – some of us reaching out to touch our favourite toy, some of us verbally asking for ‘more’ and others touching the ALD board to let the adults know that we didn’t want the fun to stop. We are all so proud of the children for this brilliant progress. Well done Dragonflies!

This week we have said goodbye to a very special member of our team – our wonderful Jodie. We had a little goodbye party to send her on her way to her new adventure. We had fun taking part in a game of pass the parcel. We waited patiently for our turn and tried very hard to pull off the paper to reveal a treat!

After pass the parcel we had a sensory disco with bubbles, disco lights and lots of dancing. Finally we had an ice lolly and some party food and gave Jodie lots of cuddles. Thankyou for everything you have done for our children Jodie. We miss you lots already ❤️🥲.

Another wonderful week for our Dragonflies. Have a very lovely weekend Dragonfly families. Look out for the letter about the Oakwood Family Festival on Wednesday 10th July. We hope to see you there.

Julia, Jodie, Megan, Gemma, Jo and Cath 😊😊

At last it seems that summer is here. It’s been a warm and sunny week at Oakwood and as usual we have been very busy.

Dough Disco 🙌

Dough disco is a new activity for us. Everyone has a small piece of dough to squash, roll and poke in time to the music. Dough disco is a perfect way to strengthen the muscles in our hands.

Fine motor and problem solving
We continued to develop our fine motor skills during our problem solving sessions. We are continuing with our story/song ‘Down in the Jungle’ and this week we have been ‘trekking in the desert’. We enjoyed exploring the sand, sprinkling it with our fingers, scooping with tools and pressing shapes into the sand to make pictures.

Attention Autism

We all really enjoy our Attention Autism sessions. This week some of our sessions have been linked to the theme of ‘colour’. In stage three we had to hold onto the red and green pom poms and give them a shake!

In this stage two activity Julia added drops of food colouring to a bottle of lemonade. We were all mesmerised by the way the colour spread throughout the liquid. Then Julia screwed the lid on and shook the bottle very fast before twisting off the lid and watching the bottle explode! In stage three we had to dip the rolling pin into rainbow paint and then roll it onto paper to make marks. This was a very messy bucket time!

This bucket time was around the theme of plants and growing. In stage three we had to hold tight to the watering can and water the flowers. We had to use good hand – eye coordination to aim the water into the tray.

This bucket time has helped us to practise watering our sunflowers. They are really sprouting up.

Music Time

We built on our previous learning on ‘high’ and ‘low’ by having two chime bars each this week. We are all showing growing levels of concentration in music. We held our beaters and joined in with playing when asked. We were all able to make a choice of which chime bar to play when it was our turn to lead the group.

Crocodile Rock

We acquired a new toy this week – a crocodile see saw. Julia introduced it to us in bucket time and then we were all intrigued to have a try during continuous provision time.

Forest School Adventures

Forest school is such a beautiful, natural space. It’s lovely to see the children exploring in their own different ways. Some like to climb, some find a stick, others like to hold a tiny leaf, some keep a close eye on where the adults are and some like to find a quiet peaceful corner away from everyone. This week we were all happy to venture in the darker, denser areas of the forest and enjoy ourselves.

Cooking

In this week’s cooking session we made a bowl of cereal. We had to use lots of different skills, from tipping from a jug, making a choice between cereals, gripping a spoon to feed ourselves to trying new food experiences.

Goodbye Jodie
Next week will be a sad one in Dragonflies as we will be saying goodbye to one of our teaching assistants Jodie. Jodie is leaving to return to nursing. She is a wonderful member of the team and we are all going to miss her very much. Best of luck to Jodie as she begins this next part of her life and thank you for all that you have done for the Dragonflies children.

Enjoy your weekend Dragonfly families. See you next week.

Julia, Jodie, Cath, Megan, Gemma and Jo

Forest School Fun

On Tuesday we had a magical time in the forest school. The forest has been transformed since the last time we saw it. The canopy of branches and leaves is so thick and luscious. Some of the Dragonflies were a little wary to enter the forest area and were happier on the big field whilst others got stuck in and began exploring straight away. We all enjoyed being outside in the fresh air and experiencing the sights, sounds and textures of our beautiful outdoor area.

Father’s Day celebrations ⭐️😊❤️

Happy Father’s Day to all our special Dads and Grandads. We hope you all have a lovely day on Sunday with your families. We enjoyed making your special cards. You are the coolest!

Sunflowers 🌻☀️😍

As part of our Growing and Changing topic we have begun to explore the life cycle of plants. This began with us planting a tiny sunflower seed in a pot. We all enjoyed touching and crumbling the soil and looking closely at the tiny seeds. Next we used scoopers and spades to fill our pots with compost. After we had covered our little seeds with compost we watered them. Now we’ve got to give them enough water and sunshine and wait to see them grow.

Music Time ⚽️🤩

We continued to explore the sounds made by different chime bars. Is the sound high or low? We also listened to the national anthem in preparation for the men’s European football championships that begin tonight (Friday). Alternatively in p.e. we danced to Football’s Coming Home (fingers crossed). More football fun to come next week.

Problem Solving 🤓🤓

We are continuing to make great progress with problem solving from colour matching and tipping and pouring to counting and completing jigsaws.

Trekking through the Desert🌵🐪

We really like the special book ‘Walking through the Jungle’. This week we have visited the desert. We explored the sounds that different animals make using symbols and sound buttons. We also made sand castles and hid animals in the sand. In bucket time Julia made a sand camel and then afterwards we made our own. It was a very sticky and messy activity but the camels will look great hanging on our display.

Thankyou for another happy week Dragonflies. Have a wonderful weekend.

Forest school is on Tuesday so please send in suitable clothing and footwear. Look out for the letter in your child’s bag.

Julia, Jo, Jodie, Cath, Megan and Gemma 😊😊

Hello Dragonfly families. We hope you all had a happy half term. The children were all very happy to be back at school on Monday morning. Another busy week had begun.

Attention Autism

The children all have their favourite part of Attention Autism whether this is seeing the exciting objects come out of the bucket, enjoying watching a messy stage two activity or coming up to the carpet to take a turn at a task during stage three. Some of our children are now able to stay focused throughout all three stages which is amazing progress. Here are some of our Attention Autism experiences this week. We have been splatting a very hungry caterpillar, throwing frogs into the pond, watching Julia make a very yucky caterpillar soup and looking for baby caterpillars in the soil.

Fine motor skills

Fine motor skills describe how we use our fingers and hands to make smaller movements. We are developing our fine motor skills in many ways from squashing and squeezing playdough during dough disco, using small stampers to decorate butterflies to using glue sticks. Our fine motor skills are those we need to grasp and grip cutlery, use scissors to snip, and hold a toothbrush, amongst other life skills.

Messy cooking and making squash

In messy cooking we are supported to make choices about which ingredients we want to use and to communicate our choices to the adults. We are doing very well at selecting ingredients from a choice of two. Some of us are beginning to use ALD boards to communicate when we want ‘more’ of an ingredient.

Music Time

In music we explored the idea of high and low and same and different. We moved the parachute into high and low positions and then listened for high and low notes when we were using the chime bars. Bev supported us to listen to whether the notes on each of our chime bars were the same or different to each other. We finished by listening to some very low frequency, relaxing, meditation music. Some us were very relaxed throughout the lesson and enjoyed the chance to lie down and chill out as we played our instruments!

We finished our week with sensory train. The children are all doing very well at listening to and following the instructions. Many of them now return to the train with only a verbal prompt or gesture. It’s really lovely to see.

Well done on another very happy week Dragonflies. Enjoy the weekend and we will see you on Monday.

Julia, Jodie, Gemma, Cath, Megan and Jo 😊

It’s been a fun filled week in Dragonflies this week with some very special activities to keep us busy. On Wednesday we celebrated National Numeracy Day and treated our families to our ‘Sports Showcase’. We’ve also been enjoying some exciting bucket time activities, making excellent progress with our problem solving, using salt dough to make some special sculptures and joining in with our favourite songs and stories during morning and afternoon routines.

Attention Autism Stage Three

We were singing in the rain on Monday as the showers came into the classroom! Luckily we had a big umbrella to keep us nice and dry. Cath was the first of us to have a turn but unfortunately she got a bit wet! Sorry Cath!

Art – Sculpture

As part of our sculpture art topic we have explored paper mache and junk modelling. Today we enjoyed squeezing, rolling and cutting out shapes from salt dough. We saw some excellent fine motor skills from the children today. When they are dry we are going to decorate them.

National Numeracy Day, Music and Problem Solving

On Wednesday Bev treated us to a number inspired music time session. We all chose an instrument and kept a steady beat of 1,2,3,4. We then chose whether we wanted to play ‘fast’ or ‘slow’. Some of us are becoming very good at following the instructions, counting the beats and stopping in the right place.

Problem solving on National Numeracy Day

We explore so many different activities in our problem solving sessions. There is always lots going during these sessions from learning to tip and pour from containers, completing jigsaws, matching picture cards, sorting objects by colour, ordering numbers and matching amounts of objects to the correct numeral. We are all working on our own problem solving targets, at our own pace and are making excellent progress.

Sports Showcase

We all loved taking part in the Dragonflies sports showcase. We were so proud of our children. Families they really did you proud. The parachute was a huge success! You are remembering the songs and routines so well Dragonflies. We saw lots of confident climbing and balancing on the benches and stools. Everyone had a good try at throwing and catching the different sized balls. We even had some time for some action songs and a cool down after all that hard work. A huge THANKYOU to all the family members who came along to make the afternoon so special. Also thankyou for your amazing feedback.

Thankyou for another wonderful half term Dragonflies. We hope you have a very happy half term break with your families. Thankyou to all our families for your continued support.

Next half term we shall have forest school every Tuesday so please send wellies and suitable clothing please.

Happy half term!
Julia, Jo, Jodie, Cath, Megan and Gemma

We have been continuing our learning around ‘Growing and Changing’ this week. We are still really enjoying exploring the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. During bucket time we explored the final part of the story where the caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly. We used the colourful pom poms to act as butterfly wings. We all had a really good try at following Julia’s actions and shaking/flapping our pom poms/wings!

Later on in the week we made hungry caterpillar fruit kebabs using grapes and water melon. Esther had lots of little caterpillar friends to help us understand what we were going to make. She also used an ALD board to support what she was saying. We all used our fine motor skills to push the grapes onto skewers. Some of us really enjoyed eating our caterpillars once they were finished, whilst others weren’t so sure!

During problem solving we have been exploring quantity, and learning what ‘full’ and ‘empty’ look like. Julia used our bucket times to introduce these ideas to us. We enjoyed looking at the different coloured liquids inside the containers. Julia also used other materials such as lentils and rice to fill up tubs and cups. She filled up a cup with flour and we got to splat it flat! We also used a watering can full of water to water the flowers. Julia had to empty some water out of the full watering can as she soon realised none of us could lift it off the floor! Just look at how brilliantly we have followed the instructions to splat the flour and use the watering can. This demonstrates how much our children’s focus and concentration is developing.

We are continuing to enjoy going ‘Down in the Jungle’ and in our art lessons we continued to make our masks. After the paper mache and the paint we now turned to the medium of collage. We tried hard to add feathers, colour and eyes to our jungle animal masks. The final results were amazing. They are now hanging around on our Down in the Jungle display.

We used some little stampers to decorate our jungle animal pictures. We all had a good try at choosing a stamper, pressing it into the paint and then onto the picture. This took a lot of hand eye coordination and concentration. Well done Dragonflies.

On Tuesday we all had a lovely time at swimming. Our confidence and skill in the water continues to develop. We enjoy having the ball raft in the water. Some of us like to climb on top and float around the pool whilst others like to make a den and hide underneath!

We are looking forward to seeing you at our sports showcase on Wednesday from 1:30 until 2:15.

Have a very happy weekend.

Julia, Jo, Jodie, Megan, Gemma and Cath 😊😊

It’s been another wonderful week at school this week. The sun has continued to shine and we’ve had lots of fun both inside and outside of the classroom. We are continuing to learn about changing and growing as we explore the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In art we have been exploring sculpture by making our own paper mache masks. In music we enjoyed some of the traditional music and dances associated with the month of May. We are continuing to take turns with our friends and follow instructions during Attention Autism. We have been swimming, had fun climbing and balancing in p.e. and finished the week with our favourite – Sensory Train.

Through the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar we have been exploring big and small with the help of different sized caterpillars.

We then took turns as Julia wrapped us up like a big, green caterpillar.

We used our fine motor skills to build this enormous hungry caterpillar jigsaw.

We fed the caterpillar his favourite foods and enjoyed watching The Very Hungry Caterpillar on the big screen. Some of us enjoyed reading along with the film; even turning the pages at the correct point.

We watched Julia make a caterpillar using balloons and red and green paint. After that Gemma helped us to make our own caterpillar. Some of us were able to complete this activity independently. Once they were dry we drew faces onto our caterpillars. They all have their own individual expression.

In music Bev always says hello to each of us. We then respond by touching the switch to hear it return the welcome. We are all able to press the switch independently and hear it say hello.

We celebrated the month of May by exploring traditional English music. We used bells to recreate the sound made by morris dancers and danced with ribbons to represent a dance around the maypole. I think the adults particularly enjoyed this activity!

As part of our learning about life in the jungle we have begun to make paper mache animal masks. This also fits with our art topic – sculpture. We got very messy covering our balloons with paper mache and once they were dry we painted them. We were all supported to choose a paint colour and a painting tool to make our mask. Next week we will add details using differently textured materials.

One of our funniest bucket time activities is ice cream splat. This is where Julia makes and drops 3 shaving foam ice creams! All was not lost however because we all enjoyed a delicious ice lolly as our stage three activity. Just what you need when it is so hot outside.

We cooled ourselves down with some splashy water play outside on the grassy area. This is a great opportunity to teach the makaton sign ‘more’ as so many of the children wanted us to fill up the try again and again!

We hope you have a lovely, sunny weekend. See you next week Dragonflies,

Julia, Jodie, Cath, Jo, Gemma and Megan 😊😊